Ford invents cars that look for filtering motorcyclists and then stay out of their way automatically!

Ford has invented a system that constantly looks for motorcycles filtering between lanes, works out how quickly they are approaching and automatically STOPS a car or van from changing lanes if the motorcycle is too close!The set-up that has been filed by the factory for inclusion on future cars, works by having two cameras on a vehicle, each are mounted to the rear corners of a vehicle. These cameras are solely tasked with monitoring the areas where motorcycles filter in traffic.

The system works by reducing the video feed to a limited range of greyscale images. Onboard electronics then turn the oncoming motorcycle into a series of dark pixels. If the amount of dark pixels in the specific filtering area increases and reaches a certain number then an auto-pilot takes over the car’s controls and stops the vehicle from moving out of its lane. You can see, below, how the computer turns the images of the oncoming motorcycle filtering into a darkening blob of black pixels.

The patent states that the system can be used in both autonomous (self driving) and standard cars but doesn’t give a timescale for when the system will be first in place on a production car or van. Given how far along the tech is, and that Ford is happy to show its greyscale imagery and how it works, surely it can’t take that long before we see pro-filtering protector tech on all new Fords. Now all we need is the other manufacturers to catch up.